Fathers of the Church : Saint Augustine : Eighty Three Different Questions

The Fathers of the Church #70

by Augustine of Hippo

In the autumn of A.D. 388, St. Augustine returned from Italy to northern Africa. Here in his native Thagaste he assembled a monastic community. When the brethren found their leader Augustine in a rare moment of leisure, they had no misgivings about putting questions to him on a variety of topics which he answered from the store of his vast knowledge. These questions together with the answers were later collected and assembled in a random order ( ractions ). The English translation presented here affords the reader a rare opportunity to glimpse some of the topics that interested members of a community that eventually gave the early Church four Alypius of Thagaste, Severus of Milevis, Profuturus of Citra, and Possidius of Calama. Even though St. Augustine intended no specific sequence in this collection, four broad categories in the question and answer literary form are discernible. One category serves as Christian apologetic, e.g., against Arian and Manichaean errors. The second presents Augustine in the role of exegete of selected passages from both the Old and New Testaments. The third and fourth categories, containing the greater number of questions and answers, show Augustine the philosopher and theologian, a person of towering intellectual stature in western Christianity and one of the important "Founders of the Middle Ages." Though formulated between the years A.D. 388 and 395/97 and presented from the viewpoint of Neoplatonists, many topics, e.g., the cause of evil, sin and freewill, still have great relevance for the modern reader.

271 pages, cloth

First published January 1, 1982

About the author

Early church father and philosopher Saint Augustine served from 396 as the bishop of Hippo in present-day Algeria and through such writings as the autobiographical Confessions in 397 and the voluminous City of God from 413 to 426 profoundly influenced Christianity, argued against Manichaeism and Donatism, and helped to establish the doctrine of original sin.

An Augustinian follows the principles and doctrines of Saint Augustine.

People also know Aurelius Augustinus in English of Regius (Annaba). From the Africa province of the Roman Empire, people generally consider this Latin theologian of the greatest thinkers of all times. He very developed the west. According to Jerome, a contemporary, Augustine renewed "the ancient Faith."

The Neo-Platonism of Plotinus afterward heavily weighed his years. After conversion and his baptism in 387, Augustine developed his own approach to theology and accommodated a variety of methods and different perspectives. He believed in the indispensable grace to human freedom and framed the concept of just war. When the Western Roman Empire started to disintegrate from the material earth, Augustine developed the concept of the distinct Catholic spirituality in a book of the same name. He thought the medieval worldview. Augustine closely identified with the community that worshiped the Trinity. The Catholics and the Anglican communion revere this preeminent doctor. Many Protestants, especially Calvinists, consider his due teaching on salvation and divine grace of the theology of the Reformation. The Eastern Orthodox also consider him. He carries the additional title of blessed. The Orthodox call him "Blessed Augustine" or "Saint Augustine the Blessed."

Santo Agostinho

Reviews

[Jack Booth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a collection of miscellaneous questions answered by Augustine from roughly the first ten years of his Christian career, probably as responses to members of his monastic community. The questions reflect the changing interests of Augustine (and his community), evolving from philosophy (early interest as shown in his Dialogues) and polemical issues through to Scriptural exegesis (especially after his ordination) and the life of the Church.

The questions show a broad range of Augustine's interests, especially his philosophy (the question 'On Ideas' is particularly of note), however, they are probably not of interest to most readers except those making a determined study of Augustine and his early period.

[Joel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I didn't get much out of this, which is a first for Augustine. I think because he was highly educated in a completely different world from ours, it was difficult for me to follow his train of thought on a lot of these answers. He arrives at the right place, and takes a very different road to get there than we would. I still love Confessions and City of God, but this one was not that good. The fault is mine.